


girls love girls and boys

by theragingstorm



Series: girls love girls and boys [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Birds of Prey (Comic)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Canon Disabled Character, Dick Grayson is Batman, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Multi, Polyamory, Pre-Flashpoint (DCU), Romance, old-fashioned insults, though Damian won’t admit it yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-03 01:10:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15808266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theragingstorm/pseuds/theragingstorm
Summary: Barbara isn’t just dating Dick. Damian misunderstands completely.





	girls love girls and boys

**Author's Note:**

> There is a tragic lack of Dick/Babs/Dinah out there. Someone has to provide, and I guess that someone’s going to be me.

Barbara suspected that though Damian wouldn’t admit it out loud, if pressed, he might acknowledge to himself that _maybe_ Dick was shaping up to be an adequate partner.

She voiced this thought to him while they were lying in bed together one night. Even after dating for years, he still loved post-coital cuddling, especially as his Batman duties were leaving it a rare commodity.

He was quiet for a few moments as he held her, strong hands with nimble fingers caressing her hair and her bare waist.

“I’m glad you think so,” he said after a bit. “I promise you, I really do know that there’s good in him, that he has the potential to be amazing someday. But sometimes trying to bring out that good is exhausting.”

“Dick, you’ve proven over and over through the last few months that Damian can trust you,” she pointed out. “True, he still acts like an obnoxious little twit, but I definitely think he’s starting to like you. He can rely on you. He might even grow to respect you.”

Dick exhaled softly, snuggling his head into her shoulder some more.

“Good. Good. I’m glad,” he said softly. “I’m glad I can be that for him.”

“You’re that for a lot of people.” She kissed his cheek. “There’s no reason you won’t be that for him.”

He began to kiss her right back, this time on the lips; she hummed, then melted into his affection.

“I love you,” he breathed.

“I love you too, Boy Wonder.”

From the bedroom doorway, there was a soft noise of satisfaction. Barbara lifted her head to look.

Dinah stood there in full Black Canary getup, her blond hair tied into a ponytail and a pleased smile on her lips.

“I guess there _are_ benefits to living full-time in Gotham,” she remarked, then gestured to the two of them, fully naked and having clearly just had sex, “That view, for one thing. Won’t get that anywhere else.”

“Di.” Barbara sat up. Beside her, Dick lifted a hand and waved. “Thought you were going to be working late on the Bennet case.”

“So did I, but he confessed way sooner than we guessed. Chicken-heart,” she said brightly. “So is there room for three in there?”

“It’s a California king, that’s what I ordered it for.”

Dinah quickly shucked off her jacket, uniform, and boots, so that when she bounded up onto the bed and crawled up over Barbara, she was only in her underwear and fishnets. Even though it hadn’t been half an hour since she and Dick had been thoroughly utilizing that bed, when Dinah kissed her, Barbara kissed her back, welcoming her home.

“I love you,” she murmured.

“I love you too, Di.”

Dick budged up to the side so that Dinah could crawl in on Barbara’s other side, so that the three of them all lay next to each other, with her in the middle. Black hair and blonde splaying out against the pillows, each of them curling up next to her.

She wrapped her arms around the both of them, relishing their presences, her chest warm with affection. Times were tough in Gotham. It was good to have people that she loved.

 

* * *

 

“That Brown girl doesn’t have enough experience,” Damian complained. “She’s impulsive, she’s disobedient, and she doesn’t respect her betters —”

Dick wondered if he should mention that Damian fit three of those four categories himself.

“— Cassandra is passable, I suppose, but these days she’s mostly in Hong Kong. Todd, that menace, is off God knows where with those maniacs of his. Drake’s off God knows where too with his cockamamie plans and theories. So I’m stuck with you, and with that redheaded paramour of yours.”

Dick almost burst out laughing, which, in full Batman getup, probably would’ve given the people on the street below them a serious fright.

“‘Paramour’? Well, I guess it’s a step up from ‘kept woman.’”

“Tt.”

“Damian, if anything, I’m _her_ kept man,” he said half-jokingly, thinking fondly of Dinah. Tonight for the two women was date night. “And even so, I like what we have, because I like her.”

“Clearly, it’s useless to try and salvage your masculinity,” Damian sniffed, peering through his binoculars to the street. “Grayson you fool, when are you going to learn that a dalliance with Oracle is going to end badly?”

“Dating for nearly four years isn’t a ‘dalliance.’”

“That’s even worse. She’s the broker of all our information, she holds power over you even if you don’t rely on her for your pleasure. I don’t like that.”

“Aww Damian,” he grinned. “You do care.”

“Shut up,” Damian snapped, turning red under his mask. “You’re Batman, for God’s sake. You have responsibilities. If she has you under her thumb, disaster is imminent.”

“That’s a cheerful outlook on romantic relationships.”

“It’s a realistic one.”

“Not necessarily.” Dick paused. He thought of how much he loved her, how long he had loved her. How happy he was made by her happiness. He may not be the only one for her, but she was the only one for him. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Tt. Do I have a choice but to hear it?”

Dick chuckled.

“Love can work, Dami. People can make each other happy.”

Damian looked highly skeptical.

“I promise. Because that’s how she and I are. Among other people.”

“You are a Pollyanna of the worst sort,” Damian grumbled, turning back to the street.

Dick was undeterred. Being Batman — it was a weight on his shoulders and his heart. His family was fractured, splintered, and he missed them so much that it hurt. But there was still good in his life, and it was worth holding on to.

 

* * *

 

Dinah wasn’t a Bat. She was part of the Arrows (not because of Ollie anymore, but she still loved those kids so much), part of the Justice League, part of the Birds of Prey. She really didn’t have the right background — or the right attachment to her secret identity — to be a Bat.

But she was born and bred of Gotham, just like the rest of them. And she knew how much the job could consume you or break you when it never seemed to end.

Which was why she was happy to be the voice of reason.

“This must be the first time you’ve pulled yourself away from that computer since Dick left for patrol,” she remarked as she pulled the zipper up the back of her black dress. It was still a few hours before their reservation, but she was thinking of taking Barbara to a museum or a rare bookstore or something else impossibly geeky, something the other woman would love. “I appreciate it. Especially because those clothes you were wearing smelled like my high school gym locker.”

Barbara poked her head around the bathroom door, scowling playfully. Some of the steam from her shower escaped, as did the scent of lemon-lavender soap.

“How do you even remember what your high school gym locker smelled like?”

“It’s permanently singed into my nostrils,” Dinah grinned, “right along with other such smells as Lian’s diapers and Ollie’s five-alarm chili. Hey, are you done, because that gallery you like is doing a new exhibition that starts in — _holy shit_.”

For Barbara had emerged in a stunning red number that hugged her frankly amazing body, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Dinah, out of an unconscious habit, tugged at the front of her own dress to pull the neckline lower.

“I don’t know, Di. I kind of want to stay available for a while, in case Dick or Steph or one of the other Birds or the League calls.”

“Honey...” Dinah got to her feet and walked over, taking Barbara by the hand and guiding her into the living room. “What’s the actual likelihood of that?”

“Dinah —”

“Don’t ‘Dinah’ me. I’ve been missing you. You pulled my ass out of a firefight last week —” She bent, scooping Barbara out of her wheelchair and setting them both down on the couch. “— and now it’s my turn.”

Barbara was quiet for a moment.

“Screw it,” she breathed, then leaned in and in a heartbeat they were kissing.

Dinah cupped Barbara’s face with one hand, feeling her soft hair, the other holding her girlfriend’s waist. Barbara, for her part, let her hand trail down from Dinah’s shoulder to her breast, and Dinah was instantly giddy.

Love had been hard for her throughout the years. The people she’d loved had always seemed to be dying or leaving or getting hurt or betraying. But she’d never given up, and she never would. Because love, when it was good...everything, to Dinah, seemed worth all the trouble and a thousand times more.

Her hand slipped a little down Barbara’s waist to her hip, and gently gripped her through her dress.

 

* * *

 

Damian was always in a bad mood when he had to do errands for Dick, “drudge work” as he’d previously put it, but he especially resented having to drop off a thumb drive they had confiscated to the Clock Tower of all places. Dick had claimed that Barbara would be fairly unoccupied until eight p.m. or so, and had insisted that Damian be the one to deliver the information. Most likely so she could initiate conversation with him.

“Grayson, you soft-hearted simpleton, you imbecile, you are both a tyrant and a brainless, reckless naïf of a man,” he grumbled constantly as he made his way inside. Dick had given him a spare pass to get through her security, though Damian was still of the opinion that he shouldn’t need it. “Don’t you know that the last thing I want is to spend the evening with _that woman._ ”

The door to the living complex beeped open, and he stepped inside.

“For though he might love her, _I_ don’t, and just because he trusts her implicitly, _I_ certainly am not going to —”

Damian stopped dead. At first, he refused to believe what he was seeing.

That blonde martial artist with the devastating cry, Dinah Lance, Dick had told him that she was Barbara’s coworker and friend, her right-hand woman. In the moment, “right-hand woman” was very literal as the two women were obviously feeling each other up; their hums and sighs of pleasure were slightly muffled by the lip-lock they were in. Dinah had her fingers twisted in Barbara’s hair, and there was a slight smile on Barbara’s face as she pressed long, languid kisses to the other woman’s mouth.

Obviously, those two were long past friendship status.

For a moment, Damian was frozen in place.

But only for a moment.

“You abhorrent, lying tramp! You utter slattern! You whoring, cheating demoness!”

Dinah was so shocked she fell off the couch with a yelp. Barbara jerked backwards, then just stared at the enraged boy in her foyer, looking more incredulous than ashamed.

Her lack of shame only served to make him angrier.

“HOW DARE YOU! Parading around behind Grayson’s back with this bleached-blonde floozy —”

“Extremely uncalled for,” Dinah interjected from the floor.

“— and proving yourself as the temptress that you are. You black-hearted strumpet! Enchanting and preying on a man who has done nothing to you, so that you may either keep playing with him and your mistress, or leave him broken-hearted for your dishonesty and your libido!” Damian was now quite literally hopping with fury. “I hope you’re proud of yourself for your inability to keep your legs shut and the hearts of men in one piece, you despicable harlot!”

After all that, Barbara just sighed.

“Are you done?”

Damian stared at her incredulously.

How could she be so flippant? Did she really not care at all about the effect that she had?

“No! I most certainly am not done!” He leveled a finger at her. “When I see him again, I shall tell him what you are before he wastes any more time on you —!”

As if summoned, a key turned in the front lock. Everyone fell silent; he wasn’t due back any time soon.

But nonetheless, Batman emerged through the doorway, looking out of place in the bright living room.

“Hey, I know this is unexpected, but I just wanted to check in and see how everyone’s...” He trailed off as he took in the scene. “...doing.”

Damian ran up to him immediately, his heart seeming to fill his throat. He needed to tell Dick the kind of woman his girlfriend was — but for some reason, the thought of seeing the hurt on his face caused a sick ache in his own chest.

Dick stooped, pulling off his cowl; he looked concerned.

“Damian, what’s wrong?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the women exchange tired looks.

 

* * *

 

“Grayson, you must know what that harpy over there has been doing behind your back,” Damian proclaimed. 

Barbara, the aforementioned harpy, took Dinah by the hand and helped her back onto the couch.

“The way I remember it, Tim, Cass, and Steph were way easier to break this too,” Dinah remarked. “Even Roy, Connor, and Mia were way easier to break this too.”

Barbara sighed.

“We were kind of hoping to wait until he was older...and past calling women harlots.”

“Eh, he’ll get there. Look who he has for a mentor; I mean, I could always see why you love the guy.”

“I have good taste.”

Damian continued:

“She and her pet blonde have been cavorting around together, kissing at the very least, most likely also copulating. Actually, definitely also copulating.”

Dinah flicked her hand and made a noise of affirmation.

“I regret to have to tell you, but like I said, you must know.”

Dick just stared at the boy for a few moments.

Then he threw his head back and began to laugh.

Damian stared at him with the utmost incredulity.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you, I just...” Dick hid his smile behind his gauntleted hand. “Damian. It’s fine. It’s okay.”

“What.”

With his other hand, Dick took him by the shoulder.

“Dami, they’re not having an affair behind my back.”

“ _On_ his back, sometimes,” Dinah muttered under her breath, then said out loud, “Kid, look. Yeah, Babs and me are sleeping together, but Dick knows. And he’s completely alright with it.”

“ _What?_ ”

Barbara almost laughed at the expression on his face.

“I’m dating them both, Damian,” she explained. She gestured to both sides, “Because I love them both. And the three of us have been doing this for years now.”

Damian stared at her with a mix of bemusement and curiosity, making him look for once like his age.

“She is not your mistress, she is your...girlfriend?”

“Yes,” Barbara said patiently.

“Do you all live here? Sleep in the same bed? They both get to kiss you and spend time with you?”

“Yes.”

He cocked his head to the side.

“Do they spontaneously decide who gets to have intercourse with you, or is there a system? Do they take turns, or does someone get your vagina on designated weekdays —?”

“Okay,” she groaned, “that’s enough.”

Dinah, who looked like she was trying not to laugh, spoke up again.

“Point is, your big brother’s heart isn’t getting broken. You don’t need to get all protective of him, though granted the spirit behind it was pretty sweet.”

“He is _not_ my brother,” Damian said haughtily, though it was belied by how red he was, “and I was _not_ being protective of him!”

Barbara caught Dick’s eye and gave him a told-you look. He smiled, warming her, then walked over and joined the women on the couch. Both of them snuggled up into Barbara’s side; she gave them each a quick kiss on the forehead.

All that pain and uncertainty in her life had been bearable with those two at her side. They had been invaluable to her far beyond their common field of work. They were her best friends, and she loved them like she loved nobody else.

Finally, even in such a hard time, they’d gotten to a kind of bliss —

Damian, who had been regaining his dignity and watching them all intently, marched up and pointed a finger right at her, startling her out of her thoughts.

“Mind you, Gordon, I will still be keeping a close eye on you.”

Or something like bliss, but with a bratty ten-year-old.

She gave him a dry smile, still unbothered.

“I wouldn’t expect anything else, kid. I wouldn’t expect anything else.”


End file.
